HOD 2x08 Alternative Ending
by Gekko98
Summary: Wasn't too keen on where HOD was going in 2x09 so decided to write my own. Thanks to everyone who writes on these sites. I've enjoyed reading your stories. X
1. Chapter 1 - Lavon

1. Lavon

Lavon Hayes was on a mission. He had sat back & watched this thing play out for months - but now Wade had gone too far. He had tried not to get involved but this latest stunt was impacting everyone. Moving off the plantation for God's sake – whatever about Zoe, HE missed Wade! He missed his friend & had had enough of seeing his other friend moping around being sad & miserable.

As he reached the old firehouse, the sound of an electric sawer got louder. It was a fine building & just needed some love & attention to be brought back to a use of some kind. Lavon paused for a moment, if Wade was doing what Lavon thought he was doing, then this may be one of his smarter ideas. He manouveured past some new wooden planks & a large pile of rusted metal to make his way in the old side door where the noise was now deafening. He saw Wade bent over, concentrating on carving up some wood & waited for a break in the activities.

'Wade' he called at the first opportunity. Wade looked up in surprise & hesitated before pushing the protective goggles back on to the top of his head, turning off the machine & slowly walking over to his friend. 'Hi there' he countered wthout looking Lavon fully in the eye. 'Do I need to ask?' inquired Lavon gesturing to the building, the machinery & the general air of productivity around him. 'Probably not' said Wade, finally looking up. Now that he could see him properly, Lavon could see that his friend looked tired & distracted. 'Really? Are you really going to do this? Here?' wondered Lavon out-loud as he took a second, slower glance around the old building with its beaten wooden floorboards & old stained glass windows. 'What's wrong with here?' asked Wade defensively. 'Absolutely nothing! My friend' Lavon quickly reassured – 'In fact, this is inspired, really inspired – but', and he looked back carefully to where Wade had still taken a defensive stance, reluctant to insult his friend any further, 'well, eh, who's funding this?'. Wade paused for a moment & rested himself against the nearest large object.

'Well' he started slowly, 'It seems I am ...' and he looked up with a small smile & shrugged his shoulders. 'After I left the gatehouse' he hesitated, not looking up, 'I went to stay with Earl for a night or two & we got talkin' & I kind-of mentioned my big plan to open my own bar & explained how we hadn't had much luck with the bank..' – again, Wade's eyes stayed focused on a pile of sawdust on the ground in the corner – 'and Earl just gets up & goes out in the garden & starts diggin' up jars of money ...'. Wade looked up & gave a small laugh at the look of incredulity on his friend's face. 'I know, I know ...' as he shook his own head & raised his eyebrows with a small smile: 'It was a quite a surprise for me too. Turns out he was keeping all the handouts I ever gave him – goin' back years!'. Wade raised a hand to the side of his head & threw it out in wonder. 'We dug up almost 50 jars – over 6,000 dollars!' finished Wade with a final shrug of his shoulders. It looked like he still hadn't fully taken his good news in himself.

'Wade, my boy' shouted Lavon quickly covering the distance between the two & grabbing his friend into a warm embrace. 'This deserves a celebration' he declared slapping his friend on the back. Wade gave a small laugh & shook his head. 'I'd rather keep on working if that's OK with you' & he gestured around to the labour that had been interupted by Lavon's visit. 'Throwing yourself into your work?' suggested Lavon quickly – suddenly remembering the reason why he had tracked his old neighbour down. 'Wouldn't be avoiding anything or any-particular-body would you?' he accused.

The smile went from Wade's face & he turned & started walking back to his work. 'Nope' was all that Lavon heard from his retreating figure. 'Wade, Wade, what are you _doing_?' Lavon's voice raised as he launched into his slightly-but-not-fully rehearsed speech: - 'You go off camping & come back & say you are off again & you don't tell me where – or for how long - & you also fail to inform your landlord that you've broken up with your girlfriend & that I'M going to have to deal with her sniveling & moping around the place wonderin' what she done wrong!' Lavon's voice was rising as he got towards the crux of his argument but there was no reaction from the silent young man in front of him.

'Wade, I've put up with the two of you mooning & flirting & bickering with each other for months. You've been rollin' into my kitchen straight from your bed & bringing your pillow talk with you. I put up with it ALL & do you know why?' Lavon, barking loudly at this point, tried to slow down to make sure some of what he was saying was penetrating the subborn blonde head in front of him. 'I liiike you Wade – you're a good guy' he explained slowly & carefully, deciding that simple was the way to go. 'and I liiiike Zoe, & you liiiike each other. She's making you happy & you're making her real happy & most of the time, I'm enjoying living with all that lovin' around me. Not all the time mind ...' he made a point of clarifying. 'And now what?' he continued as he threw his hands out in exasperation 'I'm down one friend – and a caretaker in case you have forgotten! – and my other friend is moping around, not sleepin' & not talkin' & lookin' like someone drowned her puppy in the creek. 'She's also eating all my ice-cream' he threw out to re-inforce his case. But he was digressing & tried to focus back on what his point was, 'I don't know what happened but she's sure to be sorry, Wade – _talk to her!_ You've got to man-up & work out these problems – not run away & hide in the town fire station!'.

Wade still had his back turned & was resting both hands on a table with his back tense through his loose t-shirt. 'Listen Lavon' he said quietly, slowly turning around to lean back on the equipment, 'I know you mean well but me & Zoe', he paused, 'Whatever we had?' he questioned calmly - 'it's over. It really wasn't that much to begin with – just s ...'. He stopped & raised his hand to rub the back of his head in frustration as he carefully, in a restrained voice, continued: 'I dunno what's up with Zoe' he said quietly, 'but it's not me, honest. She is perfectly happy with the situation, believe me'. He was unable to keep a hint of bitterness out of the last comment. Wade looked up briefly at Lavon to re-inforce his message. It was a quick glance but enough for Lavon to see a flash of pain in his eyes. Jeez, Lavon realised, his friend was hurtin' bad.

'Wade!', Lavon pleaded, 'Much as I love her, Zoe Hart can-not be trusted to know whether or not she is "happy with a situation". 'Practice medicine?' he explained, 'This she is qualified for. Read her own mind? No Wade, at this stage _you're_ probably better qualified at that than she is!'.

His words were met by silence. Lavon paused & mentally threw out the rest of his speech. He sighed & looked over at his friend trying to think of some comforting words. How could these two fools have got their wires so badly crossed? Didn't they talk at all during all those hours they seemed to spend in bed? He flashed back to Zoe at breakfast this morning looking up hopefully when the kitchen door had opened in the wind. Why did Wade not know how she felt about him? But then, Lavon wondered exasperatedly, did _Zoe_ even know how she felt about him? Smart as she was, she was capable of being pretty stupid when it came to knowing her own heart ...

'Listen Wade', he spoke up finally, 'I'm going to head on home & let you get back to transforming this place into something special. I'm real proud of you & what you're trying to do here. Glad too, that you have a distraction for yourself...' '...whether you need it or not' he added hastily. He put his hands in his pocket & took a few steps forward to say his good-bye adding as an after-thought: 'I'm sorry yourself & Zoe hasn't worked out. I thought you were real good together'. 'Real good' he repeated shaking his head sadly.


	2. Chapter 2 - Zoe I

Zoe lay staring at the ceiling of her room. He was everywhere. He had just finished painting this ceiling a few weeks back. Before that, it had been the walls. Half naked from memory, which caused her to raise a small sad smile. She missed that too but not as much as his easy laugh & his constant teasing & his refusal to let her take anything too seriously. At first she had thought he was too flippant & couldn't take anything seriously but then she began to realise that in fact he was looking after her – not letting her fret & stress about things by making light of them & successfully calming her down. The dull pain in her chest began again & she wrapped his shirt tighter around herself.

This had been her night-time routine for the last two weeks since he had come back from the camping trip with George & casually declared that their arrangement had 'run it's course' & that it was 'probably time they both moved on'. She had been too stunned to react at the time. The next day when she went to confront him, he was gone. 'Temporarily moved out of the gatehouse' according to Lavon- who seemed as surprised as she was. She had no idea where he was, where he was living, where he was sleeping, who he was sleeping with ... (there was no other option was there - but that he had found some ex's bed?). Bluebell was a small place & Wade Kinsella could not be found. The Rammer Jammer claimed he had taken some of his back log of holidays & wasn't expected back for 2 weeks. Yet she had thought she had seen his car on the main street once or twice - but never it's owner.

On maybe the 4th or 5th night after he had gone, she had seen a dim light on in the gatehouse & had quickly pulled down a sweater & gone over to talk to him. He had looked up & tensed when he heard her coming through the door. He had nodded hello but had gone back to packing a small bag with clothes, CDs & necessities. She had tried to say something but found it hard when confronted with such a cool reception. She eventually forced herself to stammer a barely audible 'I miss you...'.

Still with his back to her & seemingly deep in concentration deciding between the last few CDs, he looked up in the semi-darkness & with complete indifference made some comment about how he was 'sure she wouldn't have too much difficulty finding someone else to sleep with in Bluebell'. She was hurt by this but hadn't managed a quick enough retort & eventually, after watching this stranger pack his bag and realising he was not going to magically turn back into Wade any time soon, she quietly turned around & left – returning to her own house in a daze.

She got out of bed now & wandered to the window looking out over the pond to the gatehouse that had remained in darkness since that night. She mused on whether there might be less memories of him there than in her own bed ...


	3. Chapter 3 - Wade I

Wade was not too sure what he was doing. It was late & he was drifting around in his car. He gave a bitter laugh - he knew that technically he wasn't drifting at all - but actually making his way, as indirectly as he could, back to the plantation & specifically to stage a drive-by of the carriage house to confirm Lavon's claims that it's tennant wasn't sleeping. He had not quite worked out what he was going to do if, in fact, Lavon's claim was true. He pulled the car in outside the gatehouse & glanced over to the dim light in Zoe's bedroom. It was past 1 – usually well past her bedtime assumin' she was planning on working tomorrow. Lavon's conversation was on auto-repeat in his head. One half of his head kept zoning in on the bits that made no sense but at the same time teased him with glimmers of hope (why was Zoe moping? Why was she acting like someone drowned her puppy? Lavon had said that he, Wade, had made her not just 'happy' but 'real happy'. Was it possible that Zoe couldn't be trusted to know what was good for her?) while the other half kept him sane by pouring equal buckets of cold water & scepticism over each glimmer of hope he conjured up.

He ran over a brief conversation he had had with George Tucker several evenings ago. They had met accidentally in the Dixie Stop & after a few pleasantries, George had asked him straight out whether he had talked to Zoe yet. 'No need' Wade had replied curtly & George had looked at him strange but they had both been saved from continuing the conversation by the arrival of Lemon who wanted to corner George about some event she was planning. Wade had paid for his groceries & slipped out quietly giving George a brief nod good-bye.

He got out of the car & stretched his legs still unsure of what, if any, plan either half of his brain had. He stared over across the pond to the carriage house & tried to repress the many happy memories that came flooding back. Finally, after a long tortuous moment, common sense finally won over & he once again started beating himself up for trying to reminise about a one-sided relationship that had gone nowhere. Angrily he turned & went to get back into the car when a dim light coming from his own house caught his attention. 'What the ...' he declared under his breath. He strode up the steps two at a time & went to try the porch door. It was open. He paused for a moment & carefully opened the door & quietly went inside.

There was no obvious sign of disruption. Although not exactly tidy, the mess was familiar to him & did not look out of place. The light was coming from the lamp in the corner. Had someone left it on? As he slowly made his way over to the lamp, he glanced at the mess on the bed which seemed familiar too. He looked again. No, that wasn't all mess – there was something not right in the curves of the bedclothes. Shit – there was somebody in there! Even as he tensed & moved closer, he knew what he was going to find. The mop of dark waves confirmed it - as did the tiny frame silloetted under the blanket. Wade caught his breath & took a step back. He raised his arms & then caught his hands behind his neck & kept them there as he took in the picture in front of him & tried NOT to think - for fear of what might come.

Nope – hard as he tried, he could not stop the faint beating in his heart as his cynical half failed to come up with a logical reason why Zoe Hart was asleep in his bed. Should he check for half eaten bowls of porridge? he wondered, smiling to himself. He sat down on the edge of the bed carefully & tried to make sense of the scene. He couldn't resist taking a closer look so as to confirm recent claims of sleeplessness & general distress. There was no particular sign of either – she was as beautiful as ever in the dim light & looked to be in a deep sleep. Hang on a sec... he recognised that shirt! That was definitely his blue shirt with the hole on the shoulder where he had caught it with a fishhook.

Wade took a breath & settled back down on the corner of the bed to think. It was pointless – his mind was incapable of getting past the fact that Zoe was asleep in HIS bed in HIS shirt. These two facts took over his consciousness as he grasped at some of Lavon's earlier comments. Warm blood began to pulse gently through his veins & heart - beginning to melt the ice that had set in two weeks ago. Wade felt a smile gathering on his face as his self confidence slowly began to course through him once again. He knew what he had to do. He had to wake her. He had to talk to her. He had to know how she felt for once & for all. In fact, he decided, it was possible he may have to tell her how she felt if she was too damn blind to see for herself.

Taking a deep breath he reached across to the small bundle & gently shook Zoe's shoulder. 'Zoe, Zoe' he called softly. The girl really was _sound_ asleep. He moved over closer & shook her again, not wanting to give her too much of a shock when she woke up. 'Zoe' he called again.

'Wade' a groggy voice murmurred. 'Wade' it repeated & reaching up to the hand on her shoulder, Zoe pulled the hand in towards her chest & curled herself around it. 'Hey! Zoe!' smiled Wade as he quickly moved over beside her so as to maintain the hold without breaking his arm. God, he'd forgotton how good this felt. 'Zoe, it's me – can we talk?' he asked into the darkness. There was no response other than a soft sigh as Zoe, realising that there was a warm chest & body attached to the hand she was clinging to, had begun backing into Wade's chest to find her usual nook. 'OK, OK, we can talk in the morning ..' whispered Wade as he pulled down his shirt (although it looked _alot_ better on her) & randomly landed kisses on the bare shoulder nearest to him. As Zoe fell rapidly back to sleep, Wade lay there feeling her warmth & softness & allowed himself to slowly believe this was real. He took half an hour to lazily enjoy this moment – letting the truth of the situation slowly lap over him – a smile never leaving his face - before he also gave in to the comfort of their embrace & fell into a deep sleep.

It was well into the morning when Wade finally awoke. He liked mornings but, as he took in the dark hair beside him & stretched his lose arm out, he reckoned he was going to enjoy this one more than most. But first, he thought, some food was in order. The girl he had held all night was already skinnier than he remembered & God knows she didn't need to lose any weight. He slowly extracted himself from their embrace & rummaged for his jeans & boots on the floor. As he headed towards the door & glanced back at his still-sleeping bed-mate, he couldn't resist a guilty laugh at possibly being both one of the causes of _and_ one of the solutions to, Zoe's obvious exhaustion.


	4. Chapter 4 Zoe II

Zoe slowly opened her eyes enjoying the sweet sensation of waking up from a long, deep and much needed sleep. The enjoyment lasted only seconds before panic hit – 'shit, shit' & she sat up rapidly. A wave of shame & guilt hit her as she realised she was in the gatehouse & the details of last night's dream came flooding back. She didn't have time to wallow - instead she was looking with confusion at the sun. The light was not where it should be - the sun was supposed to be low when in fact it was up over the trees outside the window. 'What time is it?' she panicked getting out of the bed & wrapping her shirt (it was definitely hers now) around her & heading straight for the door. As she ran back to her house hoping there was time for a quick shower she was faintly aware of the smell of him all around her. Wow – she hadn't remembered the shirt smelling this good when she had put it on. As she ran up her steps in double time, she wondered whether ex-boyfriend's shirts could be perscribed instead of sleeping tablets to restless & sleep deprived female patients.

The morning had gone fast. She had arrived back to two messages on her phone from Addie wondering where she was (she had promised to be in at 8 this morning). She had arrived to work an hour late & had back-to-back patients right to lunch. She hadn't given Addie much of an excuse but then none was asked – Brick & Addie were being pretty patient with her these last few weeks. She had promised to meet Lavon for lunch & had texted to ask if he was still interested given that she now only had 20 minutes. He texted a one-word 'yep' back & she gladly took him up on the offer.

The Rammer Jammer wasn't too busy & they sat quickly & ordered food that they knew wouldn't take too long to be served. Zoe was chattier than normal & gave him a brief update on the subtle politics of life in the surgery with Brick & their recent altercation about whether to redecorate the reception area. Lavon let her talk away. She hadn't been doing that much of it recently & he was glad to see her looking rested & willing to converse even if she was still visably a bit pale & jittery. He waited for her chat to calm her down a bit until they fell into a friendly silence, both eating their meals.

'Eh, Zoe' he said at last as he took a break from eating & lent his large frame back in his chair, 'I eh, I saw our boy last night'. He looked at her carefully to see how this news was being taken. Zoe slowed her chewing & tried to look uninterested.

'Still alive then ...' she queried flippantly after taking a few seconds to swallow. 'Seems to be' responded Lavon wondering how far he was going to be able to go with this conversation. 'He's livin' over the old Fire Station' offered Lavon, still waiting to see how each morsel of information was going down before deciding his next move.

'Well, good for him' Zoe eventually replied 'I hope he doesn't have a freak accident & get strangled by an old fire hose' she added calmly and carefully took the next bite of her lunch. Lavon ignored her comment with a withered shake of his head & stuck to his plan: 'May-bes you'd like to call over' he paused, 'say hello, have a chat ...' he ventured - anticipating the dismissive shake of her head. 'I'm a bit busy at the moment Lavon' she replied calmly not looking up from her food.

Lavon took a moment to consider his options. It only took a few seconds to conclude that there was nothing to lose & addressing his next words to the top of her shiny dark head, he said softly 'The boy looks like he's in some pain Zoe'. He waited for this to sink in & then continued - 'I'm thinking he may be in need of some medical attention...' he gently suggested.

Zoe looked confused for a moment but quickly covered up 'Well, maybe you should send Brick over ?' she rebuffed. Lavon sighed & threw down his napkin. He was beginnin' to see one thing these two fools had in common. He was out. He had tried with Wade & now tried with Zoe. They were on their own now which, all considered, was a pretty scary thought. Frustrated, he threw Zoe one last life-ring as he put some money down to pay the bill. 'Well, at least Brick might know a broken heart when he sees one...' he offered in a resigned voice.

Zoe's head was spinning as she walked back to the practice in a daze. Wade had a broken heart? How was that possible? Had anyone even checked to confirm Wade _had_ a heart? She had seen very little evidence of one recently & she wondered if biologically a heart could absorb so much testosterone as to make it unable to function normally. What was he doing in the old Fire House anyway? She was not even sure she knew which building that was – was it the old wooden structure beside the Dixie Stop? Was he hurt? Did Lavon say he was injured? – she was getting confused between what Lavon had actually said & what she thought she had heard. As she looked up to make sure she hadn't passed the Practice, she caught her breath as she saw a very distinctive car parked outside only 50 feet in front of her. Her steps slowed as she also saw a very distictive man leaning languidly against it.

He had quite obviously been watching her, a smile dancing on his lips. As he saw her looking up, he pushed himself away from the car with his foot & came walking slowly towards her. He didn't look injured she thought abstractedly and with that slow swagger & the knowing smile, he most definitely, _definitely_, did not look broken hearted. 'Well, hey there doc!' he greeted her warmly oozing a confidence that she realised she had not seen in a long time. He looked for a moment like he was going to greet her with a kiss but she stopped in her tracks & folded her arms protectively in front of her causing him to hesitate & stop his own forward motion. 'Hi Wade' she managed to reply giving him a look that she reckoned must have seemed an even split between hostility & confusion. Now he was looking confused! He reached out his arm to her and went to say something but then seemed to change his mind as he took in her undoubtedly unfriendly stance.

'Are you OK, Zoe?' he finally enquired still looking confused but seemed genuinely concerned. Was she OK? Last time she had seen him, he had point blank ignored her & had eventually suggested she go off & find someone else to sleep with in Bluebell so no, she did not think she was OK. Wow – men! How did Lavon manage to get it so wrong? Broken heart my ass.

'Wade' she managed to say, throwing hm a quick glance, 'I'm in a rush back to work ...' and she gestured up at the practice front door as way of explanation. 'Eh, sure, sure Doc' he was saying looking at her strangely & obviously wanting to say more. He steped out of the way quickly to let her pass but reached out and touched her arm as she passed by. 'Doc, are you alright?' he asked again & then looked surprised when she carefully extracted her arm from his hold. He stared at her confused for a second. What was wrong with Wade? – he wasn't normally this pushy. He was normally pretty quick & deadly accurate at judging a situation. Didn't he see that she didn't want to see him, or talk to him, and was definitely not up to being on the receiving end of his smooth sourthern charm?.

She nodded him a good bye & turned to go up the steps. 'Are you sleepin' OK Doc?'. 'Its just that you look kinda tired' he offered as explanation as she turned to look at him again. His face was open & inquiring – his eyes fixed on hers. He didn't _seem_ to be laughing at her but there was no other explanation – Lavon must have told him she was having difficulty sleeping. He obviously thought it was because of him – arrogant jerk! Thanks Lavon! Suddenly pissed with the two of them and their combined insensitivity, she snapped.

'I don't know what he said to you Wade but you've got it wrong. I've been up late working this last while but am back sleeping just fine now. Just ask Addie – I was late this morning I slept in so much – the best night's sleep in years!' she threw at him. This did not have the desired effect & in fact, she could have sworn she saw a flick of a grin pass over his face. 'Sure, sure Doc,' he quickly replied, attempting to diffuse whatever was making her mad, 'I was just worried about the ...eh ... the fan in your bedroom – I wasn't able to fix it before I left & didn't want it to disturb your beauty sleep' he replied innocently.

Zoe was flustered. 'It's working fine' she quickly answered, puzzled by the searching look Wade was giving her. What was up with him today? And why did he have to look so damn good all the time - did he _ever _have a bad day?. 'I have to go Wade' she stammered & turning, ran quickly up the Practice path.


End file.
